Best Friends and Boyfriends
by HugThePineapple
Summary: Atlanta is dating Herry...but she just isn't happy. ArchiexAtlanta, oneshot


Everyone always told me how lucky I was that I wasn't alone on those rainy Saturday nights. How lucky I was that I had someone to go to when I was down; someone to hold until all the evils in the world seemed non-existent. But all the same, I could never be happy with Herry as my boyfriend.

Don't get me wrong. I mean; he was a great guy, and we had been close friends ever since we first met. But there was a time when I got tired of his constant urge to use "brute force" in even the simplest of situations. His routinely greetings of; "Hey, Atlanta!" or; "Good night, Atlanta!" had gotten old and tiring. I knew everything that he was going to say before he even said it, and I suddenly found myself thinking frequently about Archie, my other best guy friend, who was always so…what was the word? Unpredictable.

We had started dating entirely due to a misunderstanding. Jay and Theresa had supposedly been scheming to convince Archie to ask me out, but it had turned out that Herry had been in the room at the same time. Archie wasn't convinced, but Herry was. He came up with some sob story about his grandmother being sick and how he really, really needed someone during 'this difficult time.' I couldn't say no. Of course, a week later I learned that Herry's grandmother had simply had a slight head cold.

The fever passed, but the relationship didn't.

After a few weeks, Archie stopped talking to me out of the blue. He claimed that since I now had a boyfriend, maybe I should be spending my time with _him_. Despite my objections, it wasn't long before Archie had found a girlfriend of his own. And, shortly after that, I got jealous.

After another month, Herry asked if he could kiss me. I shook my head no, telling him that I wasn't ready. He said he understood, and left the room. I felt guilty for a while, partially for hurting his feelings, but mainly for lying. The real reason I had refused to kiss him was that I didn't like him in that way, and never had. I realized at that moment that if I had to spend the rest of my life with one person, it would have been Archie. Despite the many times I had denied it before, I was in love with Archie.

I didn't want to cheat Herry, so, I told him that I wanted to break up. He asked if we were still friends, and I asked, did he want to be? He nodded his head yes, so I agreed. Herry wasn't the same around me for a while after that, but I could tell that we were cool.

Archie broke up with his girlfriend on that same night. I was to learn later that it was for the same reasons that I broke up with Herry.

Archie and I spoke for the first time in almost three months on that evening. Both saying how sorry we were, and how much we had missed each other. We spent hours lying underneath the stars, filling each other in on everything that had happened since we had fought.

After resisting sleep for longer then either of us had thought possible, we finally bade one another good night and started to leave for our dorms. Archie offered to walk me back, but playfully, I refused. He laughed, saying how that was; 'Just like me." I remembered suddenly how much I had missed that laugh, and fell silent.

Archie appeared concerned at first, especially after a small tear rolled down my cheek. It took nearly another ten minutes to convince him that I was, in fact, happy. He laughed again, and told me that he hoped that what he was about to do wouldn't, as he put it, 'ruin the moment.'

Our first kiss was short, but sweet. It was me who eventually ended it, mainly because I fell asleep half way through. Archie did wind up taking me back to my dorm. But, he was carrying me, which neither of us had planned.

I heard him whisper his goodnights as he left the room. I thought at first that it was Herry, but, as a slight shiver ran down my spine, I knew that it couldn't have been. Herry's voice had never sounded so sweet.

Atlanta set down her pen with a smile and closed the small green book in front of her. The summer sun felt warm against her skin as she closed her eyes, letting her thoughts take over.

Theresa arrived at that moment.

"What's this?" The older girl picked up the book and began to flip through the pages.

"Diary…" Atlanta mumbled, opening her eyes and looking across the courtyard to where Archie, Neil and Odie were hunched over a small, electronic device. Teresa laughed.

"Sounds like you had quite a night yesterday."

Archie looked up briefly and waved at Atlanta, before diverting his eyes to Odie, who at the moment was screaming something about reaching level four. Atlanta smiled, leaning back against the old tree behind her.

"Yeah." She said, softly. "Yeah, I guess I did."


End file.
